Agents: Love, War and Bruises
by Stormhawk
Summary: The daughter of an agent is not a person to get angry. And a coppertop friend of Stevie's is invited to meet the rebels.
1. Default Chapter

Title: Love, War and Bruises  
  
Author: Stormhawk  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Disclaimer: Matrix = Wachowski Brothers and Warner Brothers ATS = Me and Lord Mordy Stevie, Darth, Cray, Niq and Exodus crew and all other original character whose names I can't be bothered to type out at the moment = Me  
  
Word Count: 11759  
  
Summary: Stevie overhears Cray say something unforgivable which leads her to have second thoughts about the collaborators.  
  
Notes: Takes place before Lord Mordy's Power Level.  
  
And may I add a 'YAY' cause this fic ended up like four times as long as I originally thought.  
  
Don't set people on fire, it's not nice.  
  
Please read and Review.  
  
Stevie turned around and punched Cray. He hadn't expected the attack so he went down like a rag doll. By the time he had caught his breath she was straddled across his chest beating his face as hard as she could.  
  
Her teacher had to bodily pull her off him. "What do you think you're doing Miss Tarker? I'm sending you to...!"  
  
"Wait," Cray said as he pushed himself up and held his bloody face. "There's no need for that."  
  
"You're bleeding Mr. Michaels. I can't ignore that."  
  
"Please Mr. Davies, let us sort it out."  
  
The history teacher sighed, "if you're sure."  
  
"Don't do me any favors," Stevie spat, "and I suggest you don't turn your back on me."  
  
"Don't threaten other students Brooke."  
  
Cray picked up his bag and walked out toward the hall, "come on Brooke. Now."  
  
Stevie picked up her bag and followed him out. "What was that all about?" He asked when they were out of range of their classroom.  
  
"You know why," she said as she stared coldly at him.  
  
"I have no idea!" he said as he took his hand away from his face and looked at the blood.  
  
"You don't?" she spat at him. "I am never speaking to you again! I hate you!"  
  
"What?"  
  
"I heard what you said," she said as she shoved him back against the lockers. Cray dropped himself to the ground, not wanting to get hit again.  
  
"What did I do Stevie?"  
  
She leant in close, "I heard what you said about my father. If you don't get out of my face I will show you how much I am my father's daughter."  
  
Realization dawned in his eyes, "just listen for one minute. I don't think you heard me right."  
  
"You know I have a gun, you know I know how to use it. Don't tempt me further or I will use it on you." She picked up her bag and walked away from him as she pulled out her cell phone. She dialed a special number that put her straight through to Smith's earpiece. "Dad? Can you pick me up from school?"  
  
"Of course," he said and then shifted to her. He looked around, no one had seen him appear from nothing except for Cray. "Did you miss your bus?"  
  
"No, I just need to get away from here."  
  
He motioned to Cray, "him too? Why is he bleeding?"  
  
"He just is. Shoot him." Cray jumped up and ran, unlike Stevie, whose gun was at home, he wasn't going to chance that Smith was actually going to shoot him.  
  
Smith gave his daughter a confused look then put his hand on her shoulder and shifted them to her room of the mansion. "Are you going to tell me what's going on?"  
  
She dumped her bag and phone on her desk and shrugged, "I just had a bad day."  
  
"Do you want to tell me about it? And was there some particular reason you wanted me to shoot Mr. Michaels?"  
  
"Can you do that for me?"  
  
"It would do damage to the relationship with the collaborators. Could you give me a reason first?"  
  
"I'm your daughter, that should be reason enough."  
  
"It is reason enough, I just need to understand why I am shooting a Smurf."  
  
"Don't use that stupid nickname, he doesn't deserve a nickname, only a bullet."  
  
"Contrary to what you may think or may have heard, shooting doesn't solve everything."  
  
"Yeah, sometimes you run people over."  
  
"You can solve problems without killing people, and I thought Cray was your friend."  
  
"He used to be," she said as she shook her head.  
  
"What happened Stevie? What did he do?"  
  
"He just said something I can't ever forgive."  
  
"Was he teasing you? Human boys are apparently quite stupid at that age."  
  
"He didn't say anything against me."  
  
"Then what did he say?"  
  
"We were in history. We were studying World War Two. He sits in the row behind me, and I heard him say that the agents were the new Nazis, that they have killed more people than the Third Reich ever did. They guy who was sitting next to him was like 'what?' and then..." She sat down on her bed and sighed, "he said that since you're in charge, that would make you the new Hitler. I stood up and punched him as hard I could. I wish I had of hit him harder, should have kicked him as well. I'm going to start carrying my gun to school."  
  
"You will do no such thing," Smith said levelheadedly. "It would cause far too many problems."  
  
"I understood it when Morpheus and Neo used to say stuff like that behind my back, oh god I hated them but I didn't expect it here, I thought he was my friend, I never expected he would..."  
  
She stood up and pulled open her cupboard. Her Desert Eagle was sitting in a holster that was hanging on a hook on the inside of the door. "I thought I was safe here. I'm going to move out." She looked down at her father, "you haven't said anything."  
  
"Stevie you know how old I am. I have witnessed every war since the middle of the 1800s. Humans are the only race so stupid as to fight the same wars twice - those wars were fought in the real world a couple of hundred years ago and fought again in the Matrix."  
  
"Then why didn't you stop them?"  
  
"It's not our job to stop what humans start. But I do remember one thing from the World War Two era, something a rebel said to me. He said 'better an Agent than a Nazi, at least we know why we're fighting.'"  
  
"Cray is so stupid, but he was a rebel - that means he is stupid. All of them, the whole stupid Exodus crew. The whole lot of them, they..." She sat down and put her hands over her face, "why aren't you mad?"  
  
"If I let every insult I've ever received bother me, I would be a physiological mess, I'd sit in a corner all day wearing a straight jacket."  
  
"You're not the straight jacket type."  
  
Smith noticed that she wasn't holding onto her Desert Eagle anymore. "Do you still want to shoot him?"  
  
She was silent for a long moment, "no...," she finally said, "seriously injure him yes, but don't bother shooting him. But I am never speaking to him again."  
  
"Do you think you could talk it out with him?"  
  
"He said you were the new Hitler, that is unforgivable."  
  
Smith picked up her right hand and saw a sharp ring, "ah, that's how you cut him. It should scar if it makes you feel any better."  
  
"I'm still moving out. I'm going to go to one of those really expensive hotels for the night, the ones with the room service that charges through the nose."  
  
"Stay here tonight, and I'll help you look for your own house in a couple of days if that's still what you really want by the end of the week."  
  
"An apartment or penthouse, I don't need the trouble of yard care."  
  
"Is there anything I can do for you?"  
  
"Do you mind sticking around for a while?"  
  
"Not at all."  
  
"You want to do my math homework?"  
  
"If I do it, you won't learn anything."  
  
"Why do I need to learn anything? It's not like I need a job or anything."  
  
"What do you want to be?"  
  
"I really don't know. For a long time I wanted to be a 'Zion Saboteur' but I don't need to do that. Could I be a recruit?"  
  
"Technically, I suppose you could but I don't want you in that kind of danger."  
  
"Do you think I'm tough enough to be a recruit?"  
  
"I think a year in the real world proved that. A lot of other people your age would have crumpled being out there."  
  
"That world sucks away your soul, I just had to live in the hope that I could come back one day."  
  
"You're back now."  
  
She was quiet and then looked up at him with a different expression on her face, "dad? What's a soul?"  
  
"I don't have a theology subroutine to explain that to you."  
  
"What is it? I've been thinking about it since...Jessica. Was that some kind of technical thing or was that her? Really her that...? Her soul wanted back and mine was too weak...I need to know if I have a soul."  
  
"I can tell you without a single doubt that you do. It may not be something that can be measured and logged by the Mainframe but more what kind of person you are, and you are a good person, and you have a good soul."  
  
"Do you have one? I know you do, but do you think you have one?"  
  
"No one has ever asked me that before, but if you believe I have one, that's good enough for me."  
  
"How many rebels have you killed?"  
  
"I have never taken an innocent life."  
  
Stevie sighed, "I like that answer better than kill count."  
  
He smiled, "I thought you might."  
  
Later that night after Smith had left Stevie was using her laptop to look for a nice place to move into through some online real estate sites. There was a knock at the door. "Get lost!" she called, not wanting to talk to anyone.  
  
"What'd I do?" Darth questioned. "Do you know where Niq put the bandages? She put them away after we did the shopping."  
  
"No clue Star Wars boy. Leave me alone."  
  
"Cray came home this afternoon with his face bandaged, but the bandages have fallen off. Now I either have to turn this place upside down looking for where Niq put them or take Cray to the hospital."  
  
"I couldn't care less," she said as she clicked on a link.  
  
"You don't know where Niq put the bandages?"  
  
"Why don't you just call her?"  
  
"Her cell was off." Darth paused. "Did you do that to him?"  
  
Stevie stood up and opened the door, "yeah I did. Have you got a problem with that?"  
  
"I'm sure there was a reason," he said and walked away.  
  
"I hope it gets infected," Stevie muttered after him.  
  
Two hours later.  
  
"Are you eating tonight?" Darth asked as he knocked on Stevie's door.  
  
"I ordered pizza."  
  
"Are you ok?"  
  
"Why do you care?"  
  
"What do you mean, why do I care?" he asked, taken aback by the question.  
  
Stevie opened the door and stared at him, "I mean, deep down you're a rebel so why would you care about an agent's offspring?"  
  
"I take offence at that, deep down I am a socially inept programmer/hacker. Deep down you're a sixteen-year-old girl and deep down Cray is a...I think he's a puppy, the jury is still out on that issue."  
  
"Ha ha," she replied dryly.  
  
"Please tell me why you are both locked in your rooms not speaking to anyone and why you injured him."  
  
"None of that is really important. Cray just helped me realize something. Oh, and I'm moving out."  
  
"Cray helped you realize what? And why suddenly would we stop caring about you? You're moving out?"  
  
"By the end of the week. Can you pay for the pizza when it gets here?" she asked as she closed the door.  
  
"Sure," he said to the closed door. "And if you want to talk I'm just upstairs." 


	2. Chapter 2

Title: Love, War and Bruises Chapter Two  
  
Author: Stormhawk  
  
Not wanting to go to school the next day Stevie called a cab and headed for the mall as soon as she was awake. She spent the rest of the day wandering around, buying anything that she wanted and generally trying not to think about the day before.  
  
But she was resolved on moving out, she just wanted to find a nice place first, that didn't mean she had to move out straight away. She could keep away from Cray for a couple of days, and if got to be too much of a problem she did have her gun...  
  
"Hey Brooke!" someone called out as she walked through the mall. Stevie turned and saw a trio of girls from her English class.  
  
"Oh, hey," she said with a smile.  
  
"So..." the one in the front, Angela, said. "You want to tell us what happened yesterday? And why you skipped today?"  
  
"It's really not that..."  
  
"Don't try and tell us that it's not important or not interesting," Rana said, "I think it's finally time you spilled all of your secrets."  
  
"I don't have any secrets..."  
  
"No secrets hey?" Lydia said with a smile, "then what's the deal with you and Cray?"  
  
"We think of you as a friend," Rana said, "and friends don't keep secrets from each other."  
  
"We were just about to get some lunch," Angela said, "you want to join us?"  
  
"Ok, sure."  
  
They went over to the food court and found a booth that was out of the way. "So..." Lydia started. "You and Cray..."  
  
"There is no me and Cray," Stevie said as she shook her head. She was quietly jealous of the girls, as well as most of the other people her age, most of them wouldn't have to go through half of what she had been in her short years.  
  
"Here's what we do know," Angela said. "You and he show up on the same day as new students, seemingly from nowhere, you don't talk about your old school or old friends, you live in the same house - a mansion I might add with an older guy and Cray's big sister. None of you have jobs and you still can afford a place like that. You have a lot of mysteries around you."  
  
"Not to mention we have heard Cray call you 'Stevie' instead of Brooke."  
  
"That's just a nickname, my middle name, what the 'S' stands for?"  
  
"Oh, well that explains that at least. What about the rest of it?"  
  
"There's a lot of things I can't tell you because..."  
  
"Oh my god," Rana said as she slapped her hands over her mouth. "No way..."  
  
The other three girls looked at her, "what is it Rana?" Lydia asked her.  
  
Rana motioned for them to lean in close, "Brooke...I think I just worked you out."  
  
Stevie smiled nervously, "you...did?"  
  
"You're in the Witness Protection Program aren't you? You and Cray and the other two? That's it isn't it?"  
  
Stevie smiled, well, in all honestly, it wasn't completely wrong. "Can I trust you guys?" They all nodded. "Yeah, Rana is right. We were all placed in the WPP. That's why I can't tell you everything."  
  
"That's cool," Angela said.  
  
"That is so coolies Brooke," Lydia said. "Rana I never would have thought of that."  
  
"Brooke, we swear we will never give up your secret," Angela said with a smile. "But that doesn't explain why you hit Cray and skipped today."  
  
"He was just being a jerk, and I needed a day to get away from him."  
  
"Yeah," Angela said with a nod, "guys can be so stupid sometimes."  
  
"Hey Brooke, since we're talking about secret stuff, can I ask you a question?"  
  
"Sure Rana."  
  
"Have you ever heard of something called the Matrix?"  
  
Stevie's heart stopped as she stared at Rana. "The...the...Matrix?" she stuttered.  
  
"Yeah, do you have any idea what it is?"  
  
"Not really," Stevie lied, "why did you ask?"  
  
"Cause I got this," Rana said as she pulled a piece of paper out of her bag. Stevie took it and looked at it, in jagged font it read "You need to wake up from the Matrix Rana-chan. Only then will your eyes stop lying to you. Meet me tonight above the moon and under the stars."  
  
"Where did you get this?"  
  
"I got it last night, I'm sure it's from Jeremy, he's the only person who ever called me Rana-chan. There are a couple of chat rooms I hang out in, and Jeremy introduced me to all of these hacker-types."  
  
"Who is Jeremy?" Stevie asked, not recognizing him from school.  
  
"He used to go to our school," Angela explained, "he was really cute, and Rana still has a thing for him."  
  
"So what do you think this message means?"  
  
"I have no idea, I fake a lot of my computer knowledge, I just ask my little brother to tell me stuff that sounds right and he taught me l33t."  
  
Angela and Lydia rolled their eyes, "we told her to stay away from the computer types but she didn't listen to us. Some of them can be dangerous."  
  
Stevie nodded her head, "yeah, some of them can be real dangerous. I suggest you just throw that piece of paper out and forget you ever saw it."  
  
"I would, except that Jeremy is the only person I know online who would use that phrase, 'above the moon and under the stars'. So I want to know why he would invite me somewhere like this. They must have something to do with it."  
  
"Who is 'they?'" Stevie questioned.  
  
"Jeremy I mentioned is involved with a computer group. But I don't know much more than that."  
  
Stevie knew what the message was but not what to say to her friend, she didn't know what she could say without giving everything away. But she did want to keep her friend out of danger. "Hey Rana, I know who might know."  
  
"Yeah? Who?"  
  
"The other guy in the mansion is a programmer, he spends hours online, he should know what this is all about. It could be some elaborate practical joke for all I know."  
  
Rana smiled, "yeah Brooke, if he could tell me that would be great."  
  
"Cool, you want to come over when we're finished here?"  
  
"Yeah!"  
  
"By the way, where is 'above the moon and under the stars'?"  
  
"Half Moon Club, the dance floor is painted like a moon and the roof is dotted in stairs, it's where we had the tenth grade dance."  
  
The four girls shopped around until it started to get late, and then Stevie and Rana got a cab back to the mansion.  
  
Stevie ran up the stairs to Darth's attic and rapped on his door. "It's open," he called and she walked in. "Hey Stevie, what can I do for you?"  
  
She closed the door, "one of my friends from school has been contacted by the rebels, I'm not sure why, she's not after the truth or anything, she got a message telling her to meet them tonight. What can we do?"  
  
"I'm not sure. Why would they be contacting her if she's not after the truth?"  
  
"As near as I can figure, a guy who used to go to my school is one of them. She's kept in contact with him over the net."  
  
"And you don't want to tell her the truth."  
  
"Of course I don't."  
  
"I can understand that. So what do you want me to do?"  
  
"Can you come up with some half-truth that will keep her away from them?"  
  
"Shouldn't be too hard."  
  
"Yeah, would you mind doing that?"  
  
"No, I don't mind, just so long as I manage to get a straight answer out of one of you as to why you hit Cray."  
  
"He hasn't told you?"  
  
"Not a word."  
  
"Fine, I'll tell you but you tell Rana about the evil cyber terrorists first."  
  
"Ok, you want me to come downstairs?"  
  
"Yeah, she may get scared away by the state of this room."  
  
"Hey, it's kind of clean..." he muttered as he followed her downstairs.  
  
"Rana, this is..." Stevie looked at him, unsure if he wanted her to use his real name or his alias.  
  
"Hi, I'm Tyler," Darth said as he stuck out his hand.  
  
"I'm Rana," she said with a smile. "Brooke says you might be able to help me."  
  
"Sure, what's your problem?"  
  
"Do you know what the Matrix is?"  
  
"Yes," he said without batting an eye.  
  
"Well, what is it?" Rana asked him, excited that someone finally knew the answer. And if it was something that could reunite her with her cute Jeremy then all the better. She wasn't looking for anything more than that.  
  
"It's nothing more than a front."  
  
"A front for what?" Rana asked in confusion.  
  
"A cyber-terrorism cult that uses mind-controlling drugs to recruit new members."  
  
"You're kidding right?" she asked him, looking for any sign that he was joking.  
  
"No, I'm completely serious."  
  
"But...Jeremy wouldn't be mixed up with something like that..."  
  
"Believe me," Darth said, "a lot of people get sucked into it. But once they're a part of it, they aren't what they used to be."  
  
"I don't believe you," Rana said, shaking her head. "Brooke, what kind of sick joke is this?"  
  
"I'm not joking Rana, I wouldn't joke to you about this."  
  
"I'm not joking either Rana," Darth said. "I've had friends who were mixed up in this as well."  
  
"Yeah well," Rana said as she went out the door, "you've given me some things to think about."  
  
Stevie looked over at Darth once she had shut the door, "you think she's going?"  
  
"Yep, she's got rebel written all over her. R-E-B-E-L. But I seriously don't know how this guy convinced his captain to recruit someone like her."  
  
"The rebels are weird..." she said as she gave him a wry look.  
  
"Was that an insult?" Stevie replied with a grin, "your turn, what happened between you and Cray?"  
  
Stevie pouted and sat down on the couch, "he said something that I can't forgive."  
  
"Which was?"  
  
"Nothing I want to talk about," she said as she sat down on the couch and picked up the remote for the big TV. She flipped a couple of channels until she found The Simpsons. Darth sighed and sat down as well.  
  
They watched the entire show in silence and when the credits started she looked over at him, "ok, you want to know what's really going on?"  
  
"Yes, please."  
  
She opened her mouth to speak but stopped when the door opened, Cray walked in. She stared at him for a minute then ran upstairs. Cray shook his head and went to walk up to his room.  
  
Darth shook his head and dragged him through to the kitchen. "You aren't leaving this room until you tell me what is going on."  
  
"It's just a misunderstanding."  
  
"I don't care if it's just a misunderstanding. Your face still hasn't healed, Stevie has been in a perpetual bad mood and is going to move out, and I haven't even seen your sister in at least twenty-four hours."  
  
"Admittedly the last isn't quite so strange..."  
  
"Don't change the subject Cray. We never had problems like this on the Exy."  
  
"On the Exy we couldn't have problems. I mean seriously, what could we have come up with that was worse than living on a cold hovercraft that flies around sewers of a long-dead city while hunter-killer squiddies were on our tail every other day, while have to live on a diet of snot and water. Everything in our lives out there was about survival, that's all that mattered, everything else was secondary."  
  
"We did have some good times."  
  
"The good times stand out because they were little oasis's in the desert of a world we lived in. Here...our problems are a little different."  
  
"What are you guys fighting about?"  
  
"She thinks I said something but she didn't hear me right and she won't let me explain no matter what I try. I tried screaming through the door but she just opened it and threw a can of coke at me, I tried yelling it through the heating grill but she shut her end. I tried emailing her but she never responded. I tried calling her but she hung up, I have done everything but break her door down and stand there until she listens to me."  
  
"So why don't you do that? We can get the door fixed."  
  
"Cause she would shoot me, she's threatened to shoot me."  
  
"Stevie has a gun?"  
  
"Yeah. Her daddy gave it to her, and I really think she would shoot me."  
  
"Do you want me to act as a messenger? I could wave a little white flag or something?"  
  
"You know the whole 'don't shoot the messenger' thing?" Darth nodded, "well I don't think it applies when the one receiving the news is the pissed off offspring of the system up there."  
  
"Offspring of the system...did you say something concerning her...origins? She's still not over turning into Jessica so she would hyper-sensitive if you said anything about that."  
  
Cray shook his head, "I didn't say anything about her. It was nothing to do with her."  
  
"About her dad?"  
  
Cray sighed, "yeah. Nothing to do with her, all to do with him."  
  
"You idiot."  
  
"But! She never gave me a chance to explain what I said!"  
  
"Come on Cray, remember how psycho Phoenix would go anytime someone would say something against the Exy? Or remember that time I had to lock you in a storage cupboard for half an hour to stop you from beating up a councilor's nephew after he said Ryder wasn't fit to be a captain..."  
  
Cray grinned at the memory, "and then you formatted his ship's computer..."  
  
"That was a decision we all came to."  
  
"That cupboard smelt funny, like engine degreaser and snot."  
  
Darth looked at him in desperation, "can you see the point I am desperately trying to make?"  
  
"That people will go more rank when you say something against someone they love than when you say something against them?"  
  
The programmer punched the air, "yes! He does understand! Praise the...praise the people who came up with broadband!"  
  
"How much sleep did you get last night?"  
  
"There was a Star Trek marathon on...and you're off topic again. Now put two and two together and don't come up with five."  
  
"Are you telling me to sit quietly and think about what I've done?"  
  
"Someone has to. God knows someone has to help you, I do want this ridiculously expensive house back to normal by tomorrow otherwise I am going to shave your blue head and spray paint it green."  
  
"Why are you acting like this is all my fault? Stevie isn't the one with a scar on her face."  
  
"That is just a cut, if you're lucky it won't scar. And I know two things. One, you have a habit of letting your mouth work faster than your brain - which does exist even if you don't exercise it as much as you should. Two - Stevie has had it much rougher than you and only reacts or overreacts when something really gets to her."  
  
"We were out there a lot longer than her."  
  
"At least you had us Cray. At least you weren't alone out there. And saying something against her father isn't the best thing you could do, she takes it very personally."  
  
Cray scowled, "at least she has her father. Me and Niq can't ever see our family again."  
  
"It would cause them a lot of pain if you saw them again, it's just easier to leave it the way it is. It's been years, they have closure."  
  
"But we aren't dead. It's unfair to let them think we're dead."  
  
"I know, but no one has ever had to think about this happening so we're treading new ground. How about I talk to the captain for you, to see if his 'no' is his final answer."  
  
"Would you do that?"  
  
"Yeah, if you can work out your problem with Stevie. If you can work out what you say is a simple misunderstanding then we can think about tackling something which takes a lot more explaining."  
  
"My thanks Lord Vader."  
  
"You're welcome," he said as Cray walked out of the kitchen.  
  
Darth shook his head and pulled a carton of milk out of the fridge, "why the hell the world needs to be so complicated I have no idea," he said then drank straight from the carton.  
  
"The rest of us drink out of that as well you know," Niq said as she walked into the kitchen.  
  
"And where have you been?" Darth said as he dumped the milk back in the fridge.  
  
"What are you? My minder?" Niq said as she shook her head and pulled a premixed vodka drink from the fridge.  
  
"No, just your friend, your shipmate, your housemate, and the guy who was thinking about calling the cops to see if you were dead or not."  
  
"Relax would you, it's not the end of the world, I was only gone a little while."  
  
"It was more than a day and your cell wasn't even on."  
  
"You're going to be gray before you're twenty-five. Stop trying to worry about everyone."  
  
"Sorry, but this house seems to be full of problems at the moment."  
  
"Yeah?" she asked as she sat on the bench and took a swig of her drink. "Like what?"  
  
"Well your little brother has been fighting with Stevie and neither of them will talk voluntarily, I have a good idea what's going on but neither of them have bothered to share the exact details. They both skipped school today so I had to ring up and make some excuse about them being sick. Oh, and Cray may get a big scar on his face where Stevie decked him."  
  
"Yeah, what else?"  
  
"Where the hell do you go Niq? Where do you go and why do you go? You just leave, never tell anyone where you're going or when you'll come back or even if you'll come back. Your phone is hardly ever on and we do get worried about you."  
  
Niq rolled her eyes, "it's called a social life, get one."  
  
Darth pulled a donut out of a container on the bench and munched it thoughtfully as the sun went down. "Do you think I'm stressing too much?"  
  
"What were you doing when you were their age?"  
  
"Hacking, programming, attempting to get a date, then getting used to eating snot."  
  
"They are balancing the knowledge of reality, hormones and high school. Cut them some slack and stop playing daddy. I think you should be more worried about getting a life then those two, they'll be fine in a couple of days."  
  
Darth nodded then grabbed a soda and another donut, "so your turn. What is this social life of yours that's so much more interesting than hanging around this opulent mansion watching a really big TV?"  
  
"Clubbing, attempting to find a real boyfriend instead of these losers I dump after a month or two, partying, and witchcraft."  
  
"Witchcraft?" he asked with raised eyebrows.  
  
"I have these two friends that are into wicca. They can do a couple of spells and it's really fun to be a part of."  
  
"Real witchcraft?"  
  
"Yeah," she said with a grin, "something about their 'spells' manipulate the Matrix in some way but they actually work."  
  
"Well, that wasn't what I had expected."  
  
"Well, that's the truth."  
  
"Thanks for telling me. Now I think I need to go upstairs and see if they've killed each other yet."  
  
"Didn't we just talk about you not worrying?"  
  
"I'll stop worrying tomorrow, I promise."  
  
"Hey Darth," Niq said as he went to walk out of the room.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"I've had a couple of boyfriends since we've been back in, you aren't...jealous or anything are you?"  
  
"Huh? What are you talking about Niq?"  
  
"I know it was a couple of years ago but...that night..."  
  
Darth shook his head and then knocked it against the doorframe, "Niq how many times do I have to tell you that nothing happened?"  
  
"It's nice that you say that but we're both adults ok? So you have no jealousy issues?"  
  
"How could I be jealous when there was nothing between us?" He shook his head and then walked up the stairs.  
  
He saw Cray standing outside of Stevie's door, "so?" he asked, "what's the update?"  
  
"I have stood here calmly and said my piece. And so far she hasn't shot at me."  
  
"That's good."  
  
"But after waiting for five minutes...five minutes on my watch..." he added for emphasis, "I took the gamble and opened her door. She's gone."  
  
"That's not so good."  
  
"Should we be worried or you think she's just gone out?"  
  
"I think she's gone to stop her friend from being recruited by the rebels. Her friend didn't buy our take as them being cyber-terrorists with mind- controlling drugs."  
  
Cray walked into Stevie's bedroom and opened her cupboard, her gun was still hanging on the door. "Oh this is so not good. Rebels have guns and she doesn't. She's going to get herself killed and I never even..."  
  
"She's not going to get killed and you never even what?"  
  
"Apologized for this misunderstanding."  
  
"Funny, I thought you were going to say something else," Darth said with a wry grin.  
  
"Hello? Let's go find her. I'm going to call her cell."  
  
"I'm going to hack into the school and find this friend's email address so I can see where this meeting is."  
  
"Was this friend hot?"  
  
"This is not the time for that."  
  
"No, trust me, if there is a hot or cute chick in the school me or one of my friends has her email address already."  
  
"Quite an efficient network," Darth said with a smile. "Her name was Rana."  
  
"That's easy, considering the fact she has no alias. ?"  
  
"It's a chat site, most of the girls in my classes get on there and chat. That's half the reason it's so easy to remember their email addresses."  
  
"Ok, I'll hack her email, a sixteen-year-old girl's password shouldn't be too hard to find and you ring her cell phone." 


	3. Chapter 3

Title: Love, War and Bruises Chapter Three  
  
Author: Stormhawk  
  
Twenty minutes ago.  
  
After seeing Cray walk in the door, Stevie ran upstairs, grabbed her jacket and jumped out her window. After walking about a block from the mansion she called a taxi.  
  
It took a few minutes for it to get there and when it did she jumped in and said the address for Rana's house - she was hoping to stop this meeting before it started.  
  
When the taxi pulled up in front Rana house, Stevie looked at the taxi driver, "can you wait here a few minutes? I might need to go somewhere else."  
  
"No problem kiddo," he said with a smile.  
  
Stevie jumped out of the taxi and ran up to the front door, she knocked furiously on it and pressed the doorbell, "come on Rana," she whispered, "I never thought you were stupid."  
  
"Ok! Ok! Got the idea already!" a voice yelled as someone ran to the door. Rana's little brother Tom opened the door. "Oh, hey Brooke. Is there some reason you're attempting to break the door down?"  
  
"She went to Angela's about half an hour ago. Is something wrong?"  
  
"No, are you sure she went to Angela's place?"  
  
"Well, that's what she told us. Is she in trouble?"  
  
Stevie shook her head, "no," she said with a reassuring smile, "this just isn't a well-organized night."  
  
"Oh, ok."  
  
Stevie ran back down to the taxi, "somewhere else?" the driver asked her.  
  
"Yeah, do you know where the Half Moon Club is?"  
  
"It closed down last year, but yeah."  
  
"There please."  
  
"Ok," he said and started the car. "They rent the building out for private parties sometimes, you going to one of them?"  
  
"No, it's not a party," Stevie said sadly. "More like a funeral if I don't get there in time," she muttered to herself.  
  
Why don't you call your dad? He can help you. One part of her mind asked.  
  
Because Rana is my friend and I can handle myself. She answered it.  
  
"Hey driver, can you drop me in the street before the club or after the club? I don't want to stroll up to the front door."  
  
"You're the boss."  
  
Then her cell rang, she pulled it out of her pocket and looked at the number. Seeing that it was the mansion she knew it would be Cray so she cancelled the call and dumped it back in her pocket.  
  
"She hung up on me," Cray said as he ran up to Darth's room.  
  
"Well that had to be expected. Her friend's password is 'kitten,' how lame is that?"  
  
"Where are they meeting?"  
  
"'Above the moon and under the stars,' do you have any idea where that is?"  
  
"It's always specific to the contact. It would be somewhere Rana knew."  
  
Darth flexed his finger and then started typing furiously, he brought up a search box and typed the phrase into it.  
  
"Where are you searching?" Cray asked him.  
  
"Her computer, which may I add had no security whatsoever. If this place is important it may be mentioned somewhere or as a file name of a picture."  
  
"Hurry..."  
  
"Here!" Darth said and double clicked on a picture. The picture showed Rana and a group of friends standing on a floor painted like a moon. "Any idea where this is?"  
  
"Umm..." Cray said as he shook his head.  
  
Darth copied the image and then zoomed in and enhanced the corner. "Half Moon Club. It's written on one of the signs."  
  
"Great, now we need an address."  
  
"That should be much easier."  
  
The taxi pulled to a stop, "ok," the driver said, "the club is down the bottom of this street."  
  
I knew I should have brought my gun, Stevie thought as she looked around at the dark streets. "Thanks," she said as she pulled out her wallet to the pay him.  
  
"Hey kid, I got another fare lined up a couple of blocks away, you want me to swing back in half an hour or something?"  
  
"Yeah, that'd be great. What I'm doing shouldn't take that long."  
  
Stevie got out of the taxi and watched the taillights disappear and she was left alone in the dark street.  
  
Cray looked at the address, "I know where this is."  
  
"Ok, I'll call a taxi."  
  
"Something faster," Cray said with a grin as he heard their neighbor pull into his driveway.  
  
"You're going to steal his bike?"  
  
"Why not?," he said as they ran downstairs.  
  
"Do you even know how to ride one?" Darth asked as they ran out the front door.  
  
"Sure, Galli uploaded the program ages and ages ago, I just never used it. Dylan!"  
  
"Yeah?" their neighbor Dylan said as he pulled off his helmet.  
  
"I'm borrowing your bike," Cray informed him as he grabbed the helmet and sped away.  
  
Dylan looked at Darth, "what just happened?"  
  
"You don't mind if he borrows it for a while do you? We'll pay if it gets broken."  
  
"It's only got half a tank of gas. What did he need it for anyway?"  
  
"A...reason."  
  
"Ok...," Dylan said shaking his head, "just...dump it in the garage and we'll talk tomorrow."  
  
"Sure."  
  
Someone tapped Stevie on the shoulder, instinctively, she grabbed their hand and slammed them against the wall with their arm bent up behind their back.  
  
"Brooke! Let me go!"  
  
"Rana?"  
  
"No, Santa Clause," Rana said sarcastically as Stevie let her go. "How did you do that?"  
  
"Reflex action."  
  
"Some reflex. What are you doing here anyway?"  
  
"I came to help you."  
  
"Help me what? Get a broken arm?"  
  
"You have no idea what you are walking into."  
  
"And you do?"  
  
"More than you can imagine," Stevie said honestly.  
  
"Feel like sharing?"  
  
"All you know is you're going to meet Jeremy and the computer group he's with, right?"  
  
"I didn't buy they bull your friend said."  
  
"Look Rana, you want me to level with you?"  
  
"Sure. Say your piece."  
  
"If you go to this meeting and Jeremy asks you to go with him, what are you going to say?"  
  
"I'll say yes."  
  
"Even if he doesn't tell you where you're going?"  
  
"Look, the only reason he and I aren't together at the moment is because he moved away. We both know that so if he wants me to go with him then I'll go."  
  
"Even if it means you never get to see your family again?"  
  
"I'm sure he didn't move that far away."  
  
"Answer the question. Is Jeremy worth giving up your family, your home, your friends, real food, TV and everything you ever knew?"  
  
"You're starting to scare me Brooke."  
  
"I know what I'm talking about, whereas you have no idea what you're walking into."  
  
"You aren't making any sense!"  
  
"And if you with him, nothing will ever make sense again and you will never be able to have a normal life."  
  
"Can you prove any of this?"  
  
"I am trying to save you from making the worst mistake of your life."  
  
"Go away Brooke, just go home and leave me alone."  
  
"Do you want me to say good bye to your family for you?"  
  
"Leave me alone." With that, Rana turned on her heel and walked toward the Half Moon Club.  
  
Stevie drifted into the shadows and quickly made her way up to the roof of the building beside her so that she could follow Rana from above. She knew that some people didn't want to be saved but she was going to do everything she could to try and help her.  
  
One thing was comforting her, at least this seemed like a second-rate operation, not the kind of thing they would bother 'his almighty One-ness' with. The last thing was Anderson doing aerial surveillance while she was walking around rooftops.  
  
"Speaking of the freak show..." she muttered as he saw a black dot in the sky, but at least he wasn't anywhere near her. His crew was probably looking after something much more important. "Just stay over there freak boy, don't come bothering me."  
  
She jumped over to the next roof and then saw the Half Moon Club in all of its dilapidated glory. From the look of it, it would have been a fun place when it was open but the whole area was like a ghost town, the crime rate had probably driven out all of the legitimate businesses.  
  
There were a couple of lights inside, showing that the rebels at least could operate a light switch and there was a young man waiting outside the front door. Probably Jeremy.  
  
Even from way up on the roof, Stevie had no doubt that he was a rebel. It was written all over him...and the fact that she had caught a reflection of a gun inside his trench coat only strengthened her presumption.  
  
"Jeremy!" she heard Rana call out.  
  
Jeremy stood and held out his arms, "I thought you weren't coming."  
  
"I wouldn't have missed this for the world."  
  
"You want to come inside and meet my friends?"  
  
Stevie shook her head, this Jeremy must have a lot of sway with his captain to have convinced them to take out a naive coppertop like Rana. That was, unless, something else was going on.  
  
Stevie slapped herself, there HAD to be something else going on. She seen it before because all she had been worried about was Rana, but now she thought about it she knew there was something more going on.  
  
The rebels would use a naive coppertop like Rana instead of one of their normal potentials if they were testing something and they weren't sure if the subject would live or die.  
  
And this supposedly wonderful Jeremy could be either only using her as a test subject or taking the chance that this...whatever it was...would work and they could be together.  
  
"I have to get Rana out of there. Now." I know I'm not overreacting, Stevie thought to herself, I know how they think. Coppertops are expendable, I've heard them say that.  
  
"I wish I brought my gun," Stevie said as she jumped down from the roof. "Coppertops are not expendable." She ran around the side of the building and found a service entrance.  
  
She lifted her leg and kicked it in. She ran down a short hall and into what had been the kitchen.  
  
She saw a lighter on the bench, she shook it and smiled, there was still some fuel in it. Then she pulled open a cupboard and four half a can of spray oil. "Primitive," she said with a grin, "but it'll do."  
  
She walked out of the kitchen and toward the lit room. She came to a swinging door with a porthole in it, she peeped through it and only saw one rebel - the rest of them must have been in another room - and opened it quietly.  
  
The rebel turned when she clicked the lighter on, he pulled out his gun but she pressed the button on the spray oil before he could fire.  
  
His hair caught on fire immediately so he dropped to the floor screaming, trying to roll the flames out. She stamped on his hand and picked up his gun. "Thanks," she said sarcastically.  
  
Unfortunately, his screams had brought the rest of the crew coming. There were two others, plus Jeremy and Rana.  
  
"Brooke what the hell are you doing? Did you set that guy on fire? Why do you have a gun?"  
  
"Rana come over here now."  
  
"Who the hell are you?" one of the trench-coat-wearing rebels asked as he aimed his MP-5 at her. "What are you? Recruit?"  
  
"Not quite," she replied as she the safety off her gun. "Whose in charge?"  
  
"I am," said the man standing near Jeremy and Rana. "Now are you going to walk out of here or are we going to shoot?"  
  
"What do you want her for?" she asked as the burning man finally put the last of his flames out. He collapsed in a heap - no threat from him.  
  
"Do you know who we are?" Jeremy asked.  
  
"I know what you are. She doesn't."  
  
The man in the trenchcoat made a move so Stevie turned the gun a little and fired. He dodged the bullet so she fired again, this time he wasn't so lucky. Ok, that was better than expected, maybe efficiency with firearms is genetic. She mused as the man fell down.  
  
Rana doubled over and puked, "you just killed him!" she shrieked, "Brooke, you murdered someone!"  
  
"And you think you're going to come out of this alive?"  
  
"You're going to kill me too?" she asked as she took a step back.  
  
The man near Jeremy made a move, "don't even think about pulling a gun on me," Stevie said with a cold stare. "You the captain?"  
  
"Eval," he replied, "second in command of the Copernicus."  
  
"Copernicus, that's the ship that carries out all of the morally-challenged science experiment. Why don't you tell my friend Rana what you had in store for her?"  
  
Eval didn't move. "Tell her," Stevie said, "or I shoot both of you."  
  
"It will take too long for us to set this up again," the captain whispered to Jeremy.  
  
"I'll get backup," Jeremy said as he grabbed Rana's hand and they ran into the next room.  
  
"Rana!" Stevie screamed but then Eval drew his gun.  
  
"Why are you trying to stop this?" he asked as he aimed his gun at her.  
  
"Why are you experimenting on innocent people?"  
  
"How did you know?"  
  
"She doesn't know anything about the Matrix, she's not looking for you people, therefore this meeting could only mean you needed a test subject."  
  
"So what if we did?" Eval asked. "What's it to you?"  
  
"I have no intention of letting you use my friend as a test subject."  
  
"Who are you with?"  
  
Stevie smirked, "if I said my father was Agent Smith would that answer your question?"  
  
"Shit..." Eval said and started to fire.  
  
Stevie ducked his shots and then brought her gun up and fired. The shot hit him straight in the chest and he went down. She walked over to him and kicked his gun out of his hand and pressed her gun to his forehead. "What is this experiment?"  
  
"When we take someone out of the Matrix there are quick flashes of information as they are detached from the system. We needed to slow it down so we could see what it is."  
  
"You've been helpful," she said as she ran after Jeremy and Rana, not bothering to shoot him because he'd be dead soon enough anyway.  
  
Stevie ran down a hall and opened each door until she found the one with Rana in it. "Oh no, Rana..."  
  
Rana was lying on the floor with silvery goo covering her feet. Usually the 'goo' spread quickly but it was just crawling on Rana. Jeremy was sitting beside her looking at data on a laptop. "Are you getting this?" he asked someone on the other end of his cell phone.  
  
Stevie raised her gun and fired at Jeremy, blood splattered on the laptop. She kicked his body out of the way and yanked at a wire had been placed in the goo. The feed to the laptop went dead.  
  
Rana was shivering from the cold, "Brooke? I'mmm sss...s...sorry I ddidn't lisssten tooo you. You wwwere right."  
  
"Did he say anything?"  
  
"Ssaid sorry but Zzzion more important than me."  
  
"Did he give you a pill? A red pill?"  
  
"Noo, injected me." Rana weakly lifted her hand and Stevie saw an empty needle.  
  
"Ahh!" Rana yelped as the goo started to crawl higher.  
  
"No red pill, no trace program, no phone line, I broke the connection to the laptop. They never were going to take you out, there's no hard line in here."  
  
"Wwhat? Help me."  
  
"I don't know what to do."  
  
"Get it off me."  
  
"That might hurt you."  
  
"Do it Brooke!"  
  
"Rana," Stevie said as she put her hands down near the goo. "My name is Stevie. My real name is Stevie, not Brooke."  
  
Rana smiled and Stevie grabbed the top of the goo. It wasn't completely liquid, so it was possible to hold onto it. The problem was that it had a glue-like quality, it didn't want to let go of Rana.  
  
Stevie stood up and with all of her strength managed to pull it off Rana's legs. She threw it toward the corner and it shattered into a thousand small pieces.  
  
"Hello?" a voice called. "Is there anyone left in here?"  
  
Stevie jumped up and aimed her gun at the door as someone walked down the hall. She did a double take as the taxi driver walked in. "You?" Stevie asked in surprise as she lowered the gun.  
  
"Yeah, you asked me to come back."  
  
"Didn't the bodies scare you off?"  
  
"I'm very old kid, not much bothers me anyone." He looked down at Rana, "she's a mess, she needs to go to the hospital and one of them suits might need to look at her as well."  
  
"Suits?"  
  
"Don't play dumb kid, cause I'm not. But I have no intention of walking up to their doorstep so I'll take her to the hospital and get them to contact the suits."  
  
"Who...what are you?" she asked as she put the safety of her gun on.  
  
"I'm just one of those people who knows what's going on in this world. You need a lift home?"  
  
"No," she said as she shook her head, "I think I need to walk this off."  
  
"All right, but be careful," he said as he helped Rana to stand.  
  
Rana looked up at Stevie, "thank you."  
  
"I'll ring you tomorrow, I think we need to talk." Rana managed a weak laugh as the taxi driver walked off with her.  
  
Stevie ran a hand through her hair and pulled out her phone. She started to dial her dad's number as she walked out of the club and saw the taxi's disappearing taillights.  
  
Something blotted out the streetlight above her and she felt a chill go over her heart. She'd rescued Rana, she'd just forgotten one thing.  
  
"You little bitch," Anderson snarled.  
  
She looked up and saw him floating about ten feet above her head. She tried to finish dialing the number but her phone flew out of her hand and into Anderson's. He snapped it in half and let the pieces.  
  
She aimed her gun up at him and pulled the trigger before she took the safety off. The gun went flying as well and he bent it in half.  
  
Stevie ran for her life.  
  
Anderson smiled sickly to himself and then took after her. 


	4. Chapter 4

Title: Love, War and Bruises Chapter Four  
  
Author: Stormhawk  
  
Stevie ran from the black-clad incarnation of death. She had no phone and no gun, she should have accepted the ride home. She shouldn't have decided to walk it off.  
  
She turned and saw him coming after her, he wasn't flying as fast as he could. She knew how fast he was. He was going to make her keep running until she couldn't run anymore. And then he was going to finish her off. Sadistic bastard.  
  
She jumped over a chain link fence and ran around a corner - into a dead end. She tried to get out of the literal dead end but she slipped in a puddle.  
  
As she scrambled to get her footing he landed in front of her with a soft swish of his long coat. "No one is going to save you this time," he whispered menacingly as he picked her up and threw her down the alley and into the wall.  
  
He held out his hands and everything that wasn't nailed down in the alley started to move, he concentrated harder and it all flew at Stevie. She brought her arms up to cover her face but all of it pelted her anyway.  
  
When the wind died down and all of the things stopped flying around she looked up and saw him walking toward her. He was going to kill her and there was nothing she could do about it.  
  
He bent down and picked her up by her throat and slammed her into the wall behind her. She was bruised and bloodied from all of the alley junk and no problem for humanity's savior to take care of.  
  
Stevie struggled and kicked as he squeezed the life out of her. As black dots flooded her vision and a dull roar filled her ears she started to panic, she realized there really wasn't anyone coming to save her.  
  
I need to get loose. I need to get away. I need help. I need help. Someone help me! He's going to kill me! I need to hurt him! I need to make him let me go! I need something! I need a gun! A gun! I need to shoot him! I need a gun!  
  
As her mind deteriorated she felt her fingers wrap around the handle of a gun. Probably wishful thinking. With her last coherent thoughts she reached for the trigger and pulled it.  
  
The sound of a gunshot filled the alley.  
  
It was much more than wishful thinking.  
  
Anderson dropped her and stumbled back. He looked down at her in shock, she hadn't been carrying a gun - he would have seen it. He looked down at himself, he'd been shot. Thick red blood started to stain his coat.  
  
He tilted his head back and pushed his right hand into his ribs, wincing in pain he brought his hand back out and dropped the bullet.  
  
Stevie pointed the gun at him, she was shaking badly but knew she had enough strength to at least fire the rest of the rounds, "there's plenty more where that one came from, want to chance it Anderson?"  
  
"That was a lucky shot at point-blank range. You won't get that lucky again."  
  
Then Anderson crumpled and fell to the ground. Stevie looked up and saw Cray holding a chunk of metal. She glared at him, "what...are...you doing here?"  
  
"I came to rescue you."  
  
"I don't need your help," she said as she tried to push herself to her feet.  
  
"Let me help you," Cray said as he ran over to help her to her feet.  
  
She pushed him away, "I'd rather die than let you help me."  
  
"And you will, he won't be out for that long. If he wakes up and you're still here you're dead."  
  
"I'll take that chance," Stevie said as she stumbled.  
  
"But I won't," Cray said as he put her arm over his shoulder and started to walk away.  
  
Stevie woke up a little while later and found herself leaning on Cray. "Hey," he said with a smile.  
  
She recoiled from him and looked at their surroundings. "Where the hell are we?"  
  
"A rooftop, you kind of blacked out ten minutes ago and I thought you'd like to sleep for a while. Plus it's kind of dangerous to jump around when your passenger is unconscious."  
  
"Whatever," she said as she stood and started to walk toward the edge of the building.  
  
"Aren't you going to say thank you?"  
  
"For what?" she snapped at him.  
  
He shrugged, "I rescued you."  
  
"No you didn't. I would have been fine by myself. I told you I never wanted to speak to you again."  
  
"And I told you I needed to explain what you heard."  
  
"You've said all I ever needed to hear from you," she said as she looked around the roof. "What did you do with my gun?"  
  
Cray stood and pulled it from his waistband, he took the safety off. "If I give this to you you're just going to shoot me."  
  
"Damn straight."  
  
"Well I want to explain. Give me one minute, if you don't like what I've got to say then I'll give you your gun and you can shoot me."  
  
"You promise?"  
  
"I swear on my life. Literally."  
  
"Your minute is counting down."  
  
"I've tried to tell you a hundred times, you didn't hear me right," he started.  
  
"Let me guess, the full version has even more insults in it and more comparisons of my father to figures of evil," she said spitefully.  
  
"What I was saying was what Commander Locke used to say when he got pissed off! He was the one who said that! Not me! I never believed it for a second, I was just thinking about it cause of what we were studying!" He took a deep breath, "I like the agents, at least some of them. And your dad might be a bit scary, but I'm getting used to him, and I don't believe what old Crabby used to say."  
  
"You don't?" she asked him quietly.  
  
"No, and I never even would have said it out loud if I had known that it was going to hurt you this much! I never wanted to hurt you...I don't think I could hurt you..." he stopped himself before he said anything more.  
  
"Well what you said did hurt me. I felt betrayed."  
  
"I will try and watch what I say from now on. Can you forgive me?" he walked over and held out her gun. "My minute is up."  
  
She accepted it and smiled, "I forgive you."  
  
"You're not going to shoot me?"  
  
"If you ever say something like that again, I will kill you without hesitation. Other than that, I think you're safe."  
  
"You want to go home now? You're kind of bleeding..."  
  
"Oh yeah," she said with a nervous laugh. "Ander-snot just tried to kill me."  
  
"Stevie, where did you get the gun? You left yours at home."  
  
"I have no idea where it came from," she said honestly. "It just...appeared."  
  
"That is both uber-freaky and cool."  
  
"Agents do it all the time, they require stuff. Recruits too, but I'm neither."  
  
"Maybe it was some kind of glitch or something."  
  
"Yeah, maybe. I'll ask my non-fascist-dictator dad if he knows why something like that would happen."  
  
"You wanna roof jump home or go call a taxi?"  
  
"Taxi! Rana!"  
  
"I totally forget, is your friend ok?"  
  
"You know that silver goo stuff?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Well they were trying to use it to find out information instead of take her out of the Matrix."  
  
"She would have died of hypothermia," Cray said as he shook his head. "That stuff is sub-zero."  
  
"He's right," a voice said. They turned and saw Smith.  
  
"Hey dad."  
  
"Is Rana all right?"  
  
"She's in the hospital. We've altered her memories, she believes she was in a car crash and her family has been informed. What happened here?"  
  
"Can I give you the full story tomorrow?"  
  
"Can you at least give me the short version tonight?"  
  
"Evil scientist rebels wanted to use Rana to get information using the silver goo stuff without taking her into the real world. I followed them and...persuaded them not to. Then the nice taxi driver took Rana to the hospital. He was weird, he seemed to know what was going on...he mentioned 'the suits' which I guess is you guys."  
  
"Perhaps he was an exile..." Smith muttered.  
  
"A what?"  
  
"It's nothing, continue."  
  
"I was going to walk home, I needed to walk it off and then Ander-snot showed up."  
  
"Anderson?" Smith took a good look at Stevie. "You're not all right, you're bleeding."  
  
"I'm fine dad, I'm not a little girl anymore. Anyway, I was dead, I had no chance of getting out of there. He broke my cell phone! And stole the gun I stole from the guy I set on fire..."  
  
"You set someone on fire?" Cray asked in awe.  
  
"With a homemade flame thrower," she said with a grin. "And then he slams me into a wall and starts choking the life out of me," she paused and rubbed her throat. "And I kept thinking over and over that I needed help or a gun. I really needed a gun..."  
  
"And?" Smith asked, intrigued as to how his daughter had survived an encounter with Anderson.  
  
Stevie tossed him the gun, "this appeared in my hand. Out of nowhere."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Believe me, that's my reaction. You think a glitch or something?"  
  
"I think that would be the only explanation, I'll ask Jones about it."  
  
Stevie grinned, "I shot Anderson."  
  
"Shot at him, you mean?"  
  
"Nope, I shot him. He bled cause I shot him. There was a bullet in him. I really, really shot him!" Stevie's grin was as wide as it could get, and she was practically bouncing around.  
  
"You shot him?"  
  
"Are you proud of me dad?"  
  
"Of course I am, I'm more glad that you're ok but yes I'm exceedingly proud of you. It's actually unprecedented since he's become 'the One.'"  
  
"That's cool."  
  
"Cool?" Cray asked. "Are you insane? Stevie that is the coolest thing ever. Everyone in Zion is going to hate your guts and we're going to throw you a party!"  
  
"You two aren't fighting anymore?" Smith asked with a raised eyebrow.  
  
"No, he was just saying Crabby used to say."  
  
"Crabby?"  
  
"Commander Locke, of the Zion fleet," Cray explained. "Everyone on Exy calls him Crabby."  
  
"Ah."  
  
Stevie smiled wryly, "so are you sure you don't think he's evil?"  
  
Cray took a long look at Smith then turned back to her, "he's less evil than Barney."  
  
"But Barney is the ultimate evil."  
  
"Ok," Cray said as he rolled his eyes. "I hereby announce that I don't think Agent Smith is evil. Happy?" Smith growled and Cray covered his face with his hands. "Please don't kill me!" Stevie started laughing so hard she sank to her knees.  
  
"Do you two want to go home or do you want to walk?"  
  
"No dad, we'll take the lift."  
  
"Oh!" Cray said and held his hand up like he was in class.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"There's a red bike like three blocks that way, could we bring that with us? I kind of...borrowed...it from our neighbor but it ran out of gas."  
  
"You stole Dylan's red bike?"  
  
"Borrowed, I borrowed it."  
  
"I just hope there aren't cops at the mansion when we get back there."  
  
"Darth was there, he would have explained it. Plus it was to rescue you."  
  
"A white horse is more traditional."  
  
"You're no princess," Cray said as the found themselves standing in the living room of the mansion.  
  
"I'm not?" she asked in mock horror.  
  
"Seriously, have any of you people heard of a freaking phone?" Darth asked as he got off the couch. "I ought to throttle both of you."  
  
"Both of us?" Stevie asked.  
  
"Yes both," he said as he shook his head. "You should not go off rescuing friends without backup, and you shouldn't steal a bike and not take me with you. Stevie, you didn't take you gun. Cray, you didn't phone. And I haven't heard one word until now. You both could have been dead!"  
  
"He's not blinking," Cray said in a whisper.  
  
"You're alive, you have no broken limbs, you're laughing and you're not mad at each other. I love you guys," he said as he pulled them into a group hug.  
  
"Ow!" Stevie muttered, "I have big scratches everywhere, and my throat hurts. Ow, stop hugging me."  
  
"Sorry," Darth said and let them go. "I swear if you guys do that again I will lock you in your rooms and bar your windows."  
  
"Chill!" Cray said. "Relax please. We're fine, go hack something."  
  
"I'm sorry, I've been worried. When I'm worried I consume sugar which makes me hyper which makes me even more stressed than what I was to begin with." He sighed, "it's a viscous circle."  
  
"I'll order pizza," Cray said and then looked at Stevie, "I think you need to get those scratches cleaned up and Lord Vader, just go sit down, you don't need to worry anymore."  
  
"You need the phone?" Darth asked as he crashed on the couch.  
  
"No need," Cray said as he turned to Smith. "One Hawaiian, one supreme, one meat lovers and four garlic breads. Please?"  
  
"My dad is not a pizza machine," Stevie said from halfway up the stairs.  
  
"I don't mind, go have a shower or those scratches are going to get infected." He turned to Cray and handed him the pizzas and garlic bread. "Would you like ice cream?" Smith asked with a smile.  
  
"Hey Darth do we have any ice cream left?"  
  
"No, I ran out of donuts and you guys were gone for ages."  
  
"Yes, we'd like some ice cream sir."  
  
"You don't have to call me sir, you're not under my command. And you're not the only one who has come to a realization."  
  
"A good one or a bad one?"  
  
"I realized that you aren't a waste of time ex-rebel. You put yourself in danger to help Stevie, that's highly commendable and I thank you very much for it."  
  
"Any time," Cray said with a smile.  
  
"And for the record, I am not going to kill you."  
  
"I can sleep a lot easier knowing that."  
  
After a long hot shower, Stevie put on her fluffy robe and slippers, wrapping a towel around her head she walked to the top of the stairs. "Guys?"  
  
"Yeah?" an extremely tired-sounding Darth called back from the couch.  
  
"Where did Niq put the bandages?"  
  
"They were in the linen closet for some reason. I put them in the spare bathroom."  
  
"Thanks!"  
  
"Anytime."  
  
"Why don't you go to bed?"  
  
"Too many stairs."  
  
"You want a blanket?"  
  
"I have an empty pizza box."  
  
She smiled, "I'll bring you a blanket."  
  
"Thank you."  
  
She turned and saw Cray holding the bandages and wearing a white coat and stethoscope. "I am Doctor Cray, I will fix you up."  
  
"Well in that case let me get dressed first, I'm only wearing a robe."  
  
"I don't mind," he said with a wry grin.  
  
"Pervert!" she said and slapped him lightly in the side of the head.  
  
"Ow..."  
  
"I didn't hit you hard," she said as rolled her eyes and walked into her room to get changed.  
  
"Can I come in now?" Cray asked after a few minutes.  
  
"Yes, I'm decent now."  
  
She sat on the end of her bed and showed Cray her scratched, "do you think I'll live doctor?"  
  
"You'd better or I'll lose my job."  
  
He unraveled the bandages and pulled some disinfectant cream from one of the coat pockets. "Hold out your arm," he said and she did.  
  
He gently rubbed some cream over the first scratch and then wound the bandage around, tight enough but not so tight that it hurt. She smiled at him, "you do know what you're doing."  
  
"I'm not a complete idiot, and I have basic first aid in my head."  
  
"I never thought you were an idiot."  
  
"Sure you did. Especially the last couple of days."  
  
"Well, that was just a misunderstanding."  
  
"I don't like misunderstandings," he said as he wrapped the next scratch.  
  
"Neither do I," she said quietly.  
  
He finished dressing her scratches, and put the things back in his pocket. "One other thing?"  
  
"What?"  
  
He sat down beside her, "I was really worried when you disappeared. I was worried you'd get hurt or that you would die. I didn't want you to die still thinking I was an idiot cause of a misunderstanding..."  
  
"That's worked out now."  
  
"Let me finish. And I didn't want you to die before I told you how I felt about you."  
  
"Feel about me?" she questioned, "what do you feel?"  
  
He leant forward and kissed her, "I feel that about you Stevie." A single tear rolled down his face, "I care about you, I really care about you Stevie, so don't disappear again ok?"  
  
She kissed the tear away and then leant in close, "I promise. And I'll keep my promise cause I care about you too."  
  
"You do?" he said with a grin.  
  
"Yeah, I do."  
  
"Goodnight," he said as he stood up.  
  
"Goodnight. I'll see you in the morning." Cray smiled and went to his room. Stevie grabbed a spare blanket from the hall cupboard and walked down the stairs. She found Darth dumping the pizza boxes in the bin.  
  
"I thought you were tired."  
  
"I don't get that tired. I'm emotionally tired, physically I'm on a sugar high so it's kind of evened out."  
  
"Then you carry this back up," she said as she tossed the blanket to him.  
  
"Night," Darth said as he headed for his staircase.  
  
"Night," Stevie said as she walked over to Cray's door. She knocked on it.  
  
"It's open."  
  
She pushed it open, "thank you for coming to rescue me."  
  
He grinned, "I promise I'll use a white horse next time."  
  
The End. 


End file.
